Hippies and Mosquitoes

I decided to save some money WWOOFing again. I found a farm called Inah Inta which was back on Ometepe Island. It was going back south in the country which usually is a cardinal sin for me but since Ometepe is great and I needed to save cash, I backtracked thru Grenada and Managua again to get to Inah Itah.

Walking there was like something out of a dream. The road leading to Inah Intah was lined with mango trees, which were littering the ground. I found a good one and ate while I walked. Words can't describe what a mango fresh off the tree tastes like. As I came into higher ground, I could see the lake and volcanoes in the distance. Really beautiful. Inah Itah itself is located on a higher part of the island with great views of everything. It turns out that it's more of a "spiritual community" than a farm. The owner, a New Yorker, refashioned herself with the name "Gaia" and started it with her german partner, Paul.  As soon as I got my stuff down, I got a splitting migraine and went around looking for Tylenol. A french girl there asked me what was wrong and I told her I get migraines sometimes and didn't know why. She told me, "Oh, yes. This place has a very strong energy. It's that" I looked at her blankly for a bit and said, "Yeah...that's probably it." I didn't mention that it was probably because of the fact that the last hour getting to the place was comprised of me walking uphill in full sun with a 60 pound pack on my shoulders. I don't like spoiling peoples' fun.

Everyday commences with meditation, then breakfast, work and then Yoga. As meditation began at 5:30, it was rarely something I got up for. Doing Yoga was great. I can honestly say that I didn't know my body could move in such a way. I'm not being sarcastic at all when I say that I could see myself doing Yoga when I get back. However, I also say that I want to start putting more time into studying quantum physics when I get back too...the outlook seems dubious. Every Tuesday consisted of a "sharing circle" where people are encouraged to get their thoughts and feelings out. It essentially turned into a bitch session where people aired their grievances with other people in the community over food preparation, taking breaks during work, etc...and it got quite intense actually with alot of crying and yelling. I didn't have a problem with anyone yet so I stayed quiet and just watched in awe. Some of the people and things I've come to see at this place were one of a kind.

I also took part in my first real sweat lodge. The whole process itself was a ritual; collecting the wood, stones, building the structure, covering it with blankets, starting a fire and finally getting into the dark cave. Now, I have to preface this all by saying that while moving some rocks out of a hole minutes before the sweat, I was stung by a scorpion on the hand. To my surprise, I didn't die or go into paralyis as I was led to believe by most Indiana Jones movies. It was one of the most intense pains I've felt in my life and my finger swelled but nothing else. However, Paulo told me that scorpion stings are usually accompanied by some kind of halucenogenic feeling...this might have painted the experience for me. Apparently the sweat lodge I did when I was 12 at Boy Scout summer camp did not prepare me for a real sweat lodge. When I showed up mostly everyone was buck naked. I wore my underwear, I'm still not ready to make that type of leap.  Everyone there had done sweat lodges before and were used to it but I felt like I was going to pass out after about 10 minutes. Sharing my feelings was something I only half remembered since I think I was hallucinating but I'm sure I talked about how I got picked on when I was a kid...maybe. Anyway, after the first 25 minute session of trying to get comfortable and failing (due to being surrounded by 8 other people in complete darkness and sliding off of myself since I was dripping in sweat) I burst outside, made up an excuse about not being able to do the second round because of the experience being just "too emotionally heavy" and almost ran back to my tent to eat crackers. Turns out I was just hungry. This was probably because we have nothing else to eat here but salad.

It's been a great experience though. I opened myself up to alot of new ideas and practices (look up "tantric breathing" it'll change your world). I'm leaving today to go to another farm on the island than make the move into Honduras finally.